Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Oh, There's an Academic Part to this thing too?

For those reading, you have heard me mention before the main class I’ve been taking here: the 6 credit EDP class (social justice in the Dominican Republic). I think I’ve also mentioned that it is a certified writing class, meaning we have a 15-20 page argumentative research paper due this semester. As it turns out, the rough draft is due this weekend, so I don’t have much to write for this week because I’ve been working on this paper so much that I haven’t had too much time to do much else. I don’t even have a single picture from this week. As usual though, here are the more eventful instances of the week:

We finally played dominos again with José Luis. It was nice to catch up, show off our improved Spanish, and just joke around until 1 in the morning…on a Sunday.

On a guagua ride into the city on Friday morning, I immediately noticed that I was sitting next to a boy about 3 or 4 years old that looked pretty sickly sitting on his mom’s lap next to me. Sure enough, about mid-way through the ride, I got thrown up on by the boy sitting next to me. So, I had to spend the morning sitting in wet pants that I had attempted to wash the throw up off of. Who do these things actually happen to?? There’s no way that’s a common occurrence here, hence, another example of my luck. It’s all good though…I mean, how many people get to tell a story like that?

On Saturday morning, we made the trek back to Los Tres Pasos to spend the day with our campo families. It was wonderful to see everyone again. Anissa, Sarah, and I went with our families to a nearby beach called Ensenada. I have never seen a beach with water so blue. The beach was filled with locals, no tourists, and bachata or dembow music was echoing everywhere. The best part may have even been the ride to the beach. We piled in the back of a truck and raced through the winding roads through the green valleys with views of all the little towns we passed through, farm animals, the mountains surrounding us, and even a giant lagoon. It was an incredible day and I did not want to leave whatsoever.